The A2K (virtual) Weight Loss Club !!

I hope the chiropractor gets to all of those aches and pains for you, noddy. I love the pampering too.

My recovery from last weekend's trip to New Orleans continues. I gained 7 lbs in 5 days and have lost 4.5 of them in the four days we've been back. The problem is that I was already too high when we left.

I've discovered hot oat bran cereal for breakfast. I add a teaspoon or so of pure maple syrup and a dash of cinnamon to the water and oat bran and microwave it for a couple minutes. Yum! And it keeps me going for hours. I've also taken to eating a mini-meal around 4:00 - 4:30. We eat dinner at around 7:00 and I find that eating something substantial (like a sandwich or a lean cuisine type meal) in the late afternoon has a big impact on what I eat the rest of the night. I'd rather get 250 cals from a sandwich or mini-meal than a candy bar or crackers and I eat less at dinnertime than I would if I was starving.

The holidays are fast approaching and I've got two trips coming up at the end of November. Hopefully I'll be able to make a dent in the excess weight I'm carrying before then.

JPB--

You can do it. Don't think of self-denial. Think of perpetual awareness.

I'm deciding that one of the ways I can tell if my calorie intake is on target is by whether or not I'm hungry for breakfast in the morning.

All juices are not created equal. I've been buying pure blueberry juice or pomegranate juice mix and having a 2-ounce splash of Very Tasty Juice topped off with lemon-lime diet soda round about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Evidently the sugar jolt from the juice is just enough to keep me rational about stuffing my face.

JPB (I still type J_B every time and change it!) - the oat bran cereal sounds interesting. I discovered steel cut oats a while back, and love the texture. It has more fiber than instant too, which definitely keeps me full longer. The downside is that it takes 30 minutes to cook, with frequent stirring. But I usually have it going while I'm cooking something else on the weekend, and make enough for breakfasts all week.

I had my body fat tested with calipers this morning from one of the trainers at the gym at my work and I had some surprising news.

2/19/2007 - 205lbs, 16.2% body fat, 171.79lbs lean weight.
11/07/2007 - 185.5lbs, 5.4% body fat, 175.48lbs lean weight.

So, a 23.19lb reduction in body fat, a 3.69lb increase in lean weight, and an overall decrease of 10.8% in body fat. I'm pretty proud of myself.


Now, I'll say I'm surprised, not because of the weight loss, which I knew I was losing, but because I have one of the bio-electric impedence scales which has been telling me for the last couple of months that my BF% has never been lower than 15.5% and today it was 17.4% according to that scale. I've been busting my ass trying to get my scale to tell me a lower number, when all along the damn thing was off by 322%. What a piece of junk.

Anyway, I never intended my BF% to get that low, I was hoping for around 10%, but I had never dreamed of 5.4%, so that's a nice little surprise.

Is there such a thing as too little body fat? At what point is it too low?

Last time I was measured (in August) I had 36.4% BF, down from 38.8% in April. According to that paperwork, my goal should be 23-34%, but I don't know how accurate that is.

They say the underweight range is less than 4% for men.

Maporache--

Delightful surprise--although you earned your readings.

I've got one of those scales that monitors body fat myself.
I'm suspicious of the readings as well.
My numbers are well above yours, by the way.
No surprise.

My weight hit its low point in August and has been creeping up since.
I'm still holding under 168 (mostly).

It's sunny and cool outside, so I'm off for a lunchtime run.

Intermediate bellydance performance classes are kicking my butt into the next county

I'm glad I moved up in technique and performance, but oh my, do I ache today.

Only another few months til I feel like I have a clue again.

hello
hello

<the halls echo>

anyone else out there?

tonight - regular instructor's off with the cold that's killing Toronto

Anuka decides to work on something new

hmmmm ok - shimmy drill

now - shimmy forward for 8, centre for 8, back for 8
repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat .... repeat

now - shimmy left for 8, centre for 8, right for 8
repeat x 10

ok, let's pick up the pace

forward 4, centre 4, back 4
repeat x 10

left 4, centre 4, right 4
repeat x 10

let's mix it up

right 4, forward 4, left 4, back 4
repeat x 10 (did she think we weren't counting the reps? )

right 2, forward 2, left 2, back 2
repeat x 10

(did I mention that shimmy drills are killlllller?)

now shimmy right, shimmy forward, shimmy left, shimmy back

ok, nowwwwwww smooth it out


(hysterical laughter from the roundish woman on the left )

it'll take you a few months of practice to get this nice and smooth

ok, let's move onto veils now




<thud>

Shimmy, beth, shimmy!

I went to the gym yesterday, but that was the first time in a while. Sozlet got sick for about 5 days after Halloween (no gym). Then I was way behind and had to catch up (no gym). Then I got sick (no gym).

Good news is that yesterday I did my full-power workout, the one that took me a while to work up to, with no problems. Plenty of stamina, and I'm not sore today.

So I'm hoping I can slide right back into things.

EhBeth, Soz--

May you inspire me.

I've been running on adrenaline for the last few months and I've crashed. Fortunately I'm too lackadaisical to wander out to the kitchen.

Of course, I'm not moving with vigor and purpose anyplace, but this will pass.

Good to see some stirring here.

I've been holding steady for a while.
It appears my level of exercise and my diet are at equilibrium.

Time for a jog in the snowfall.
The snow is not sticking, so there won't be a lot of slop to contend with.
I've got a cap and gloves and my "The North Face" jacket and pants.
Let it snow!

so...i have..ummm... strained my boob today. i didn't know it's possible.

i'll never dance around without a bra again.

that's all for today.

Dag--

Back fifty years ago one of the high school cheerleaders left school early to spend summer with an aunt. Her mother explained she'd sprained a gland in cheerleading practice.

No significant losses for me (up 0.8, down 1.2, etc). But I think I'm losing inches - my clothes are definitely baggier.

As my WW leader said at last week's meeting: Have a great Thanksgiving, but don't gobble 'til you wobble!

Mac--

Pithy inspirational thought: Plateaus (plateaux) are made for tightening muscles.

There is nothing quite so dreary as a succession of Pithy Inspirational Thoughts.

Go, Girl. Go.

Penny came along to dance class tonight. She seemed to quite enjoy it, and Ioana and Jen posed for photos with her at the end of class. Ioana was my very first bellydance instructor a year and a bit ago. She was covering for our intermediate performance instructor. She was suitably amazed that I was still hanging in - and doing as well as I was (though I CLEARLY still have light years to go).


Now if I could just learn to wink at my own boob the way Ioana can wink at hers - and not make it look goofy ...

EhBeth--




Your ambitions enlarge my concept of the possible.

From the NYT's this morning--at least I found it this morning.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/29/weekinreview/29kolata.html

I realized two weeks ago that this holiday season is probably going to be rather grim because of Mr. Noddy's declining health. I'm aiming to survive until Twelfth Night.

In time of stress I either gorge or fast. I've lost two pounds so far and I'd like to lose five more pounds, bringing my weight down to 109.

Obviously this means dietary restraint and exercise. Please cheer me on for the exercise. I'll need it for mood elevation as well as burning calories.